Saigō Takamori
Saigō Takamori, born Saigō Kokichi, also known under the pen name Saigō Nanshū, was a samurai who played a pivotal role in the restoration of Imperial rule to Japan. While his daimyo, Shimazu Hisamitsu, tended to vacillate on his position regarding supporting the shogunate or not, Saigô was resolute in his distaste for the Tokugawa regime and was determined to completely crush Tokugawa power at almost any cost. Saigô was one of Sakamoto Ryôma's closest allies and friends, but some historians have speculated that he may have had a hand in Ryôma's assassination by leaking the location of Ryôma's hideout to Bakufu officials. The logic behind this speculation is that Saigô deemed that Ryôma would be a formidable roadblock in his plan to crush the Tokugawa. Surprisingly, Saigô went on to become the commander-in-chief of the Meiji army, laying the groundwork for what became the modern Imperial Japanese Army. Saigô supported proposals to invade Korea in 1873, believing that only with China and Korea on her side could Japan hope to successfully resist the West; he expressed in a letter to Itagaki Taisuke in 1873 that he was willing to go so far as to travel to Korea as an ambassador and arrange for himself to be killed in order to manufacture a justification for invasion. The invasion was ardently opposed by his younger brother Saigô Tsugumichi, however, among many others, and Saigô left the government. He died leading the Satsuma Rebellion against the government he helped to establish. Battle vs. Louis Riel (by SPARTAN 119) Saigo Takamori and Beppu Shinsuke walked out of a cloud and looked upon and open plain unlike anywhere they were before. In the distance, they spotted a pair of men on horseback with rifles in the distance. Mistaking them for Imperial Army scouts, Takamori ordered one of his soldiers to fire on them. A rifle bullet whizzed by the head of Gabriel Dumont, some 100 meters distant from oddly dressed enemy force. He and the second Metis on horseback turned back towards the coulee (dry streambed) where Riel and the rest of the Metis and their Cree allies lay hidden amongst the narrow line of trees on the steep slopes of the ravine. Dumont and the scout arrived back in the coulee and dismounted, informing Louis Riel of the incoming enemy. Riel and Dumont raised their weapons and ordered their troops to prepare for battle. A few minutes later, Takamori's samurai rebels arrived at the coulee. Suddenly, the silence was broken when the Metis rebels opened fire in a flash of fire and a cloud of smoke. Bullets from Winchesters and Enfields and shotgun blasts ran through the bodies of Saigo's rebels in a spray of blood. In total about 20 of his men were cut down in the hail of bullets. Takamori and Shinsuke, as well as about 30 other survivors took cover behind trees or any other cover they could find and returned fire. Saigo himself took aim with a Spencer Carbine and fired a well-aimed shot at Metis rebel, scoring a headshot, killing him instantly. A few of the other rebel samurai got off shots from behind cover, and managed to take out maybe a dozen Metis. However, for each kill Takamori's rebels scored, Louis Riel and his forces managed to kill two of their foe. As a samurai peaked out from behind a tree, Gabriel Dumont picked him off with his Winchester, before pulling back the lever and dropping another enemy. One by one, the samurai rebels, disoriented since to surprise attack, were shot down in a hail of lead. Soon enough, only about a dozen of them were left. Even as he realized defeat was inevitable, Saigo refused to flee the battlefield, and instead his katana and charged across the ravine, followed by the rest of the surviving rebels. The Metis greeted them with a hail of lead, bullets tearing through the chests of charging samurai, sending them falling to the stone-covered bed of the coulee. Saigo Takamori, Beppu Shinsuke, and two others, however, managed to reach the nearest of the Metis and Cree rebels. Beppu Shinsuke swung his sword into a surprised Metis, who was struck down, a great gash across his chest. However, his victory was short-lived. The fallen Metis was avenged by two shots from the Colt 1878 revolver of his fellow. Shinsuke fell to the ground, face down, dead. Even as Shinsuke and his last two companions fell, picked off by rifle and pistol fire, Takamori slashed through two Metis rebels, before charging towards Riel and Dumont. Unfortunately for Takamori, both of them, along with several other Metis and Cree, opened fire, riddling Takamori with bullets. His body fell and rolled down the side of the ravine. As the last of the samurai rebels fell, cheers erupted amongst the Metis. WINNER: Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont Expert's Opinion Riel and Dumont won against Takamori because of their superior guerilla tactics, as well as their greater experience in fighting a better-equipped foe- while Takamori won some battles in the Boshin War against poorly equipped Shogunate troops, he never won a battle in the Satsuma Revolt, while Riel, and in particular, Dumont, as well as their Cree allies, defeated better equipped Canadian Army troops on multiple occasions. Also contributing was the superior firepower of Riel's weapons. To see the original battle, weapons, and votes, click here. Category:Warriors Category:Samurai Category:Japanese Warriors Category:Asian Warriors Category:Real Warriors Category:Oriental Warriors Category:Historical Warriors Category:Human Warriors Category:Rebels Category:Royal Warriors Category:Modern Warriors